Fruity Cheers

Madhvi Sally, TNNJul 22, 2007, 11.51pm IST

Wine improves with age. So, Himachal Pradesh just got older. The alpine state has its reasons to observe Beaujolais Nouveau with little grapes— and very fruity ones at that. Fruit winemakers are blossoming in every corner of the state and breeding the market with apples, peaches, plums, rhododendrons, and even the seedy watermelon. The state, too, is taking a keen interest, for its central lab at Kandaghat in Solan district regularly evaluates the recipes for wines.

That explains the twinkle in Ajay Thakur's eye. He's the managing director of Himachal Fruit Wine and Beverages, which vends its 'Water Fall' label of wines across the state. Pottering around his 150-bigha (1 acre = 2.5 bigha) winery-cum-orchard at Baddu in Mandi district, Thakur indulges in a fruity conversation. "Here in Mandi, we have the right temperature for fermentation and maturity, along with spring water with mineral content, which benefits the winemaker," he says.

Thakur is in the process of setting up another winery in Solan district, and is particularly pleased to announce the newest fruity variant from the company's stable —watermelon wine!

Cut to Manocha Industries' Wonder Wyne, located in the industrial town of Shoghi. The winery was founded last year and now produces "about nine wines", says Girish Manocha, the managing director. With a capacity to bottle 10,000 cases a year, the company in 2006-07 churned out 4,000 cases. This year, it is targeting 6,500 cases.

50-year-old Bhami Kumar, a transporter in the apple wine business, is serious about diversifying into plums and peaches too, all within the next fortnight. "Unlike the semi-dry wine of the Nashik belt, Himachal wine is sweet, with 10-12% alcoholic content," claims Kumar. Also, the 61-year-old Solan Food Products' processing unit stands tall as one of the first wineries in the state. The company started from making sherry for Jagatjit Industries, and now has 16 wine brands under its belt. Cashing in on this renewed interest in cider, Dinesh Gupta, who is vending his product under the Tempest brand, also sees a huge opportunity in marketing to south India.

Meanwhile, the tea wine dream is getting its first foot on the ground with two businessmen — one from Himachal Pradesh and the other from Ahmedabad — setting up a tea wine unit in Bir near Palampur. The duo plan to invest around Rs 3 crore in the project initially, and aim to produce 15,000 litres of wine every year.

Even the pan-Indian winemaker Chateau Indage, is ready to pump in Rs 30 crore for a winery in Pragati Nagar, 55 km east of Shimla, from where it will produce both grape and non-grape wine varieties.

Whichever way one looks at it, it's a wine-win situation for both demand and supply in Himachal.